An Ordinary Man

He looked around on his deathbed
All his most formidable friends were there.
Wearing his heart with tears leaking like a seive
His father, vehement, nursed the family grief.

And armed with her knitting needles and shawl
His aunt, who even when they were small,
Had but to look in their innocent game
To make them guilty of some great wrong.

And his mother, simply weeping floors,
The hard headed house wife, with her bitch of chores,
The temple pundit, the head master and the town mayor,
The man who’d sold him the first ice cone,
The manager and the cashier at the bank,
All note worthies piled layer on layer.

And the Dogs, Whiskey and Brandy, shameless beasts
From whom, he learned the first similes of sex,
He died solvent and sad, alone as all things do
He was a great man intoned the government and the good.

He’d lived and worked on a desk all his life
Staring at a screen and typing without sight.
His parents wanted him to get settled
When he got his first office car.
So he married and married well, a dear lady
And bought a house, a dog and yet another car.

He had two children, worthy citizens and nice
Sadly away on a US trip this very night.
He’d paid his taxes and was a member of PETA,
Always the first to laugh and swore by the Gita.

He’d voted regularly and loyally with his party,
And did’nt condone or subscribe to mindless apathy.
He’d been listed in the census as a fine person
An upright citizen and model man.

But then he’d retired and wanted to roam and remarry
To see the world and listen to the bees
To meet up with his friend and his niece
The right hon’ble Mrs. Angela Carry.

But he’d been struck down with a sharp pain
The left side of the chest felt like lead
He was old, so old,
And he’d lived a good life they said.
So why did he feel the need of a second lifetime.
To be away from his cheering ex-wife and snotty kids
To write and ride and sample the wine
Which he’d thought early on would be his life.
But then he’d settled down and was game
For the mindless routine that was his bane.
He’ll get away yet, he thought,
As his eyes closed as he heard the keening from afar.